In this episode, Jenni Catron explores five leadership and culture trends shaping 2026 and what they mean for leaders in organizations of every size. She begins with a conviction that development is now a non-negotiable—for employers investing in their people as a core retention strategy and for employees staying competitive in a rapidly evolving workplace. Jenni also addresses the growing need for human-AI synergy, helping leaders discern where AI can accelerate results and where cultures must double down on the uniquely human elements of work.

From shifting dynamics in the job market to the competitive advantage of healthy, fully integrated culture plans, Jenni offers practical insight drawn from current research, reading, and real conversations with the leaders she serves nationwide. You’ll walk away with perspective to start the year fresh, evaluate your own development plan, and take concrete steps using the LeadCulture Framework as a true “culture operating system” that aligns expectations, processes, and daily employee experience. Jenni closes with encouragement for 2026 and her word for the year—Believe—inviting leaders to dream bigger and build environments where teams can grow, thrive, and be unstoppable.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

We’ve gathered some of the best moments from our live LeadCulture Network trainings and compiled them into this episode—giving you an exclusive look at what it means to lead with clarity, build unstoppable teams, and create a culture that thrives.

In this episode, you’ll hear highlights from sessions that tackle the real challenges leaders face every day:

• Clarity vs. Confusion: How small gaps in role definition, priorities, or expectations quietly erode culture—and what you can do to stop it.
• The Unseen Work of Culture: Why building high-performing teams isn’t about flashy strategies—it’s about the unglamorous, consistent work of modeling values, equipping managers, and owning your influence.
• Leading Through Transitions: Real-life lessons on managing team changes, handling leadership misalignment, and turning setbacks into culture-strengthening opportunities.
• Engagement That Lasts: Practical ways to build trust, empower your team, and create an environment where engagement—and results—follow naturally.
• Remote & Hybrid Teams: Strategies to keep your culture alive and thriving, no matter where your team works.

This episode is more than a compilation—it’s a crash course in actionable insights that you can start applying immediately. If you’ve ever wished for a behind-the-scenes look at high-impact leadership, this is it.

Last Chance: The LeadCulture Network is closing enrollment for founding members on December 31. Don’t miss your opportunity to access monthly live trainings, Q&As, video teachings from Jenni, and 6 months of support from a dedicated LeadCulture Coach. Join now and equip your team to grow, thrive, and be unstoppable in 2026.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

In this week’s episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni sits down with Peter Ostapko—founder of Kinsman and publisher of Kinsman Journal—to explore the unexpected paths that shape our leadership journeys. Peter shares the formative moments that sparked his vision, from an early encounter with leadership thought-leader Tim Elmore to a decade spent “successfully drowning” in work that looked great on paper but left him searching for meaning.

Together, Jenni and Peter unpack the tension leaders feel when they know they’re capable, but not yet aligned with their calling. They talk honestly about comparison, courage, identity, and the slow, faithful work of discovering what you’re made to do. Peter brings refreshing transparency about leaving a stable banking career to launch a mission-driven publication—not because it was easy, but because it was right.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “behind,” questioned your purpose, or felt the pull toward something more meaningful, this conversation will meet you where you are. Peter’s story is a reminder that leadership is less about having it all figured out and more about paying attention, staying curious, and taking the next faithful step.

Tune in for a grounded, inspiring look at calling, entrepreneurship, and the kind of leadership that grows over decades—not overnight.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron explores the importance of starting where you are in building a thriving organizational culture. She emphasizes that leadership and culture are not “back burner” priorities—they directly impact engagement, productivity, and mission achievement. Jenni shares her guiding principle: simple and consistent—small, steady actions over time create lasting culture and leadership growth.

She breaks down her definition of culture—clarity of who we are and how we work together to achieve our mission—and explains why clarity is the foundation of a healthy culture. Jenni highlights that people, not just goals or vision, are the linchpin for organizational success. She encourages leaders to ensure every team member deeply understands the mission and values through stories, behaviors, and consistent reinforcement, so they can confidently contribute.

Finally, Jenni introduces the new LeadCulture Network, a resource for ongoing leadership and culture development, offering courses, coaching, live Q&A sessions, and a community of culture-minded leaders. The network is designed to help leaders simply and consistently invest in their team’s growth and culture, ensuring mission success.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

On this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron uncovers a critical mistake many organizations make: promoting top performers into management roles without preparing them for leadership. What seems like a reward can actually set both the employee and their team up for unnecessary struggle—and costly consequences.

Jenni walks through:

• The mindset shift from doer to leader: Why effective managers lead through others rather than just completing tasks themselves.
• Why not everyone should be promoted into people management: Sometimes the greatest impact comes from leveraging an employee’s strengths in their current role.
• The real cost of poor managers: Turnover, disengagement, and lost productivity can quickly add up to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Practical strategies for executives: How to assess, equip, and support your managers to thrive and protect your culture.

Key Takeaways:

• Prepare managers before promotion with structured training and coaching.
• Evaluate strengths to ensure employees are suited for people management roles.
• Monitor manager effectiveness through surveys, skip-level meetings, and ongoing support.
• Quantify the financial impact of disengagement and turnover to make leadership development a priority.
• Align promotions with organizational impact to maximize both employee contribution and business results.

For executives, people managers are the linchpin of culture and performance. This episode gives a clear, actionable framework to strengthen leadership, retain top talent, and protect your mission—all while avoiding preventable mistakes that cost time, money, and morale.

Build Your 2026 Leadership Development Plan with Jenni Catron

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron sits down with Randy Cochran, Senior Executive Pastor of Central Pastoral Development and Worship at Victory Church in Atlanta. Randy shares how his team has intentionally assessed and strengthened their organizational culture, especially during leadership transitions and in a multi-cultural, multi-site church environment with over 200 staff members and 140 nations represented.

They dive into the power of taking a hard look at your culture, the importance of building cross-functional culture teams, and the lessons learned from assessing staff experiences. Randy candidly discusses the surprises and insights from their culture surveys, the value of creating shared language and values, and how intentional efforts can accelerate integration and engagement across an organization.

Whether you lead a team of 5 or 500, you’ll walk away with practical strategies to assess your culture, close gaps between aspirations and reality, and empower your people to thrive.

Learn More About the LeadCulture Survey Here: https://www.get4sight.com/survey

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron unpacks a surprising new Gallup study revealing what she calls “the remote work paradox.” While fully remote employees report the highest levels of engagement, they’re also less likely to be thriving in life overall—experiencing more stress, loneliness, and emotional fatigue than their hybrid or in-office peers.

Drawing from her own work-from-home reflections and years of coaching leaders, Jenni explores the delicate balance between autonomy and connection in today’s hybrid workplaces. She highlights three key leadership takeaways from Gallup’s findings:

1. Physical distance creates mental distance—why remote employees need intentional connection rhythms.
2. Autonomy can be stressful—how too much flexibility without structure increases cognitive load.
3. Technology can frustrate—and what leaders can do to minimize coordination fatigue.

Whether your team is remote, hybrid, or fully onsite, Jenni helps you rethink how to build engagement that doesn’t cost wellbeing—and how to cultivate a culture where your people can be both engaged and thriving.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron dives into practical strategies for investing in your team—even when budgets are tight. 

Many organizations cut leadership development and culture initiatives first, but Jenni shows why those investments pay off in engagement, retention, and performance.

You’ll learn:

• How to evaluate and strengthen your people managers to drive culture and performance
• Simple, cost-effective ways to invest in your entire staff’s growth
• How to build a culture plan that prevents drift and fosters alignment, trust, and clarity

Jenni also shares the surprising costs of disengagement and introduces the LeadCulture Network, the place where culture champions access every tool, resource, and training they need to build thriving team cultures—regardless of title or budget.

Whether you’re a culture champion or a leader looking for practical ways to invest in your people, this episode is full of actionable insights you can implement immediately.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

What does it look like to lead culture from the middle?

In this episode, Jenni sits down with Trina Lee, a mid-level leader at Africa New Life, who shares how she transformed her team’s culture—starting with small but intentional steps. From clarifying ownership (“Who takes the mail?”) to creating rhythms that celebrate people and reinforce values, Trina shows that you don’t have to sit in the corner office to shape the culture of your organization.

Together, they explore how clarity, consistency, and intentional rhythms create lasting cultural impact—even when you’re not the one setting strategy. You’ll hear how Trina’s approach began influencing the wider organization over time, proving that culture work done well always ripples out.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re the only one who cares about culture, this conversation will remind you that your leadership matters—and that building the team you want to be on can change everything.

Listen in to learn:

• Why clarity is a chief indicator of a healthy culture
• How to create consistent rhythms that reinforce your values
• Practical ways to influence culture—even when you don’t have top-down authority
• How culture systems sustain momentum and outlast transitions

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!

What if the greatest leader who ever lived was never actually called a “leader”?

This week on the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni sits down with Lyle Wells—President of Integris Leadership, pastor, and author of the new book Easy to Follow—to unpack how Jesus modeled leadership through behaviors that made people want to follow Him.

Together, they explore how leadership is more than authority—it’s about influence, behavior, and the success of others. Lyle shares eight characteristics that make leaders easy to follow, why “teaching not telling” changes everything, and how generosity and intentional mentoring can reshape your culture.

You’ll also hear their honest reflections on today’s leadership landscape—from the crisis of confidence many young leaders feel, to the surprising reasons some are stepping away from management roles.

If you’ve ever wondered how to lead with greater influence, humility, and purpose—this episode will challenge and encourage you to reframe what great leadership truly looks like.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to lead in a way that others naturally want to follow.

Learn more about Lyle Wells, Integrus, and Easy to Follow. 

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

1. Review us on Apple podcasts
2. Subscribe - we’re available wherever you listen to podcasts.
3. Share - let your friends know about the podcast by sharing your favorite episode on social media!